BCBS is the money bag!

Yesterday I received a copy of the letter that Dr. Timothy Turvey wrote for Blue Cross Blue Shields to approve payment for 3 surgeries. The entire price tag is 16,200.00. (Lefort I osteotomy in 3 pieces $6,700, bilateral sagittal osteotomies of the mandibular ramus $6,500 and maybe a horizontal osteotomy of the inferior border of the mandible $3,000.) For a little bit there, I cried. Yes, I cried again. Anything relevant to my teeth I cried. I felt SO cheated for not having done these years ago when I was under Medicaid. I know there's no sense in dwelling what I could have done then so all I am asking is an assurance of God's work, answer, strength and guidance because I sure need one right now! I will keep you posted in the coming weeks, as I should hear from my insurance in 3 weeks time.... Thanks so much for your praises and support!

One step done!

On 05/06, I went for X-Rays and Impressions. The night before I was so excited, I could not sleep. My hair was blown straight for the appointment but the next morning I found a huge pimple on my upper lips like where Cindy Crawford's mole is!! I dabbed Green Tea to reduce the redness and it worked by the time 2 pm rolled by. Anyway, I felt like a dummy at the ortho's office. Simply because of the way the ortho's assistant had me pulled my lips apart left and right to take pictures and impressions of my teeth. I was so interested in this process. I asked a zillion questions! Thank god, my ortho's assistant is a very nice lady. Below is a brief write up on what happened on Tuesday!
1) Cephalometric X-Rays
I went to an x-ray machine, and the orthodontist took x-rays of my head. These x-rays tell the orthodontist if my bite is OK and if my mouth is growing normally. The orthodontist can also see cavities, crown, etc....
2) Bite Registration
I bite down on some special wax, so the orthodontist can see if my top teeth line up with your bottom teeth. I have always been so self-conscious about my bite. When I saw the film, I cringed how real and clear it looked....
3) Impressions
The orthodontist’s assistant placed a container containing something called “alginate” in my mouth and ask me to bite down. My assistant said my bite is deadly. :) The alginate is like putty; it allows my orthodontist to build a model of my mouth so he can see exactly how my teeth come together. I bite into the alginate twice, so the orthodontist can make a model of both my top and bottom jaws. I told my orth’s assistant that the putty is just like ear molds for hearing aids. She loves that concept; she’ll use that explanation for future deaf dental patients.
4) Pictures of your face and teeth
The last stage of the records appointment is to take pictures of my face and mouth. The orthodontist uses the pictures to keep track of how my smile is changing. The orthodontist’s job is to make my mouth look excellent.
These records are on their way to my jaw surgeon Dr. Turvey at UNC CH to justify my insurance in paying all or some of my surgeries. I’ll know the status in a month and finally get a date for BRACES DAY. I think the real fight will begin soon.

Financial plan

I have been looking for financial services that I can use without losing financial independence for myself. After a zillion calls and research, I found someone! Her name is Priscilla Turay, financial coordinator at UNC CH. I called and left a message twice this month. She contacted me after she finally figured out how to use Sorenson VRS relay number and use my number. What a pour soul, haha! She's a very busy woman who travels all over the hospital assisting patients with finding options to pay for their medical bills. We emailed each other twice this past week and she seems like a nice woman. We talked about the possibility to apply a pre deposit and then pay the rest through monthly payments. We'll not finalize the payment plan till after the Records appointment in case crapinsurance ("crapapartment" from Grey's last night) will cover my surgeries.

Here's a website that explains step by step about ORTHOGNATHIC surgery. It has images to help connect what may seem foreign to most of you!

http://kyoralsurgeons.com/orthogna.htm

At least, the discussions I had with Priscilla put me a little at ease. Thanks to all my friends lately who asked and talked about my journey. It's a BIG deal to me! A co-worker sent me an email with God quoting "Worry looks around, Sorry looks back, and Faith looks up". This helps put me in a relaxed mood.

Happy Friday!!!! :)

Records appointment

Okay, so I called my orthodontist's office yesterday (in between no show appointments my applicants are famous for!) and one of the front desk team members Deana and I set up an appointment for x-rays, impression and photographs for 05/02 at 10:30 am. She even asked if I needed an interpreter. I said yes appreciatively! It will be the first to have an interpreter at the office for all of us. That day I'll look my very best and say good-bye $650 as a down payment.

So, I re-read the Plan. I had to read several times to understand the context & terms. This is not an everyday conversation you carry with family or friends expect gossips from US Weekly! Anyway, have you noticed "Genioplasty"? Argh, the surgeon will do a bone cut, move or enlarge the chin to make my whole face appears more harmonious. This type of surgery is almost always covered by the patient not insurance. Wow, I'm going to have chin implant. I never thought this will happen to me - Hello, Hollywood, make room for one more in your bandwagon of c surgery, haha!

I gonna keep this short while I can - ciao!

The plan

Finally, I heard from both my ortho and surgeon, here is the plan my surgeon is proposing...

Orthodontic treatment with full fixed appliances
Removal of upper and lower premolars for alignment of the arches
The upper arch will be aligned in 3 segments with space present at the extraction site
The lower arch will be aligned & the space closed
Orthognathic surgery
3 piece Maxillary Surgery
Genioplasty to enlarge the chin

Orthognathic surgery
If upper surgery doesn't do the job Dr. T will consider surgery to the lower jaw to advance. The final decision will be made prior to surgery when I get re-evaluated.

When Dr. T first evaluated me he listed the following problems
Minor TMJ symptoms
Long lower face height
Lip incompetency with gum display
Mandibular deficiency - small lower jaw
Class II dental malocclusion with severe crowding effects on speech & chewing. Large Anterior open bite

The team and I are hoping my insurance will respond to Dr. T's letter in a positive way. Please cross your fingers now and after I call Zack tomorrow to schedule Records appointment: Xrays, photos, & impressions of my teeth. After the appointment, the records will be sending to Dr. T to so he could support my diagnosis and treatment plan to the hard headed insurance! :) I'll wait till I hear from my insurance before setting a date for Braces day. My feelings: excited, nervous, worried, & hopeful. The lists above made me emo! I can't wait til these procedures get started for real. I posted the most recent pictures to show how crooked my nasal bridge is & my long lower face as well as other alskjdfhg problems. Happy hawking - LOL! Thanks for reading!!!

Is the extra time worth the wait?

My two appointments today (x-rays and impressions) and April 8th (braces day) were canceled because my jaw surgeon hasn’t talked to my ortho about their plan on my treatment. I blamed that on Easter holiday and Fridays off that orthos and surgeons have. I'm just kidding! Argh, I was so looking forward to starting this journey but now I have to wait a little bit longer until my ortho call me. Therefore, in the meantime, I played with the ligature colors I would want later on by trying them out on this website. I am such a cute geek - I could read those braces blogs all night.

http://pbhs.com/ortho/braces/braces.html

My diagnosis

Hello all, I thought I'd start off with my diagnosis as the first post. If any of you have the same problems as me, I'd love to hear from you! :)

I went for my orthodontic exam on 01/28. I present with the following problems:

{1} Class I dental malocclusion, lip convexity
{2} Anterior open bite 4.2 mm
{3} Dental overjet of 9 mm
{4} Minor upper crowding and moderate lower crowding
{5} The upper midline deviates to left 2mm and the lower midline is on with the face but lower arch is canted.

When I saw these problems through a sign language interpreter. I was this close to cry. The dental terms made them sound so bad but my orthodontist was so nice and calm. He assured that he and the staff will fix them to be the best they can be. I felt a little better. Financially, my insurance wouldn't cover braces due to over age limit. I was also emotional inside because I couldn't believe the costs that I have to take out of my pockets. I already made my decision since I was in HS to get it done because I'd regret if I never did.

My orthodontist's initial treatment plan was as follows:

[1] Full orthodontic treatment for 24 months with removal of all 4 first bicuspids.
[2] Orthognatic surgery for open bite closure. Ek! :(

[3] Detail occlusion during post surgery phase.

My orthodontist is H. Zack Smith. For some reasons, his name sound so fraternity like. :)

I went for my Orthognathic surgery consultation on 03/18 at UNC at CH. Details to come soon. Dr. Timothy Turvey is my Orthognathic surgeon. He looked like Anderson Cooper! I had a sign language interpreter there but I had a difficult time understanding her because she couldn't interpret dental terms very well. The costs of the steps of surgery shocked me. Again, my insurance won't cover them. Dr. Turvey offered to write a letter, which included long-term speech therapy post surgery in hope they will pay for at least some of the costs. I trust that God will lead the way. I'd need all of your prayers too! :)

More to come later!